A Neo-Fatimid Treasury of Books: Arabic Manuscripts among the Alawi Bohras of South Asia

Olly Akkerman

Open Access Published by Edinburgh University Press 2022

A Neo-Fatimid Treasury of Books

Arabic Manuscripts among the Alawi Bohras of South Asia

Olly Akkerman

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781474479585

Overview
Contents

About this book

Explores communities, manuscripts and their spaces of dwelling

Utilises extensive archival and ethnographic fieldwork including unique access to the Alawi Bohra treasury of books
Shows that the manuscript transmission of Fatimid manuscripts is as much alive today as centuries ago
Argues that the Alawi Bohra community’s manuscript collection is fundamental to the construction of its Neo-Fatimid identity
Shifts the focus from the study of manuscripts as material objects to the social framework within which they gain meaning through their interaction with readers

This book tells the story of a manuscript repository found all over the pre-modern Muslim world: the khizanat al-kutub, or treasury of books. The focus is on the undisclosed Arabic manuscript culture of a small but vibrant South Asian Shi’i Muslim community, the Bohras. It looks at how books that were once part of one of the biggest imperial book repositories of the medieval Muslim world, the khizanat of the Fatimids of North Africa and Egypt (909CE-1171CE) ended up having a rich social life among the Bohras across the Western Indian Ocean, starting in Yemen and ending in Gujarat. It shows how, under strict conditions of secrecy, and over several centuries, one khizana was turned into another, its manuscripts gaining new meanings in the new social realities in which they were preserved, read, transmitted, venerated and copied into. What emerged was a new distinctive Bohra Ismaili manuscript culture shaped by its local contexts.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Maps and Figures Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Acknowledgements Publicly Available Download PDF	xii
Notes on Transliteration and Dates Publicly Available Download PDF	xv
Sources Publicly Available Download PDF	xvi
Prologue: Fatimid Encounters across the Indian Ocean Publicly Available Download PDF	xix
Introduction Reading Sijistani in Gujarat: The Bohra Treasury of Books Open Access Download PDF	1
Inside the Treasury of Books: Reflections on the Ethnography of Manuscripts Open Access Download PDF	21
Chapter 1 Community: Introduction to the Alawi Bohras Open Access Download PDF	45
Chapter 2 Treasury of Books Open Access Download PDF	98
Chapter 3 Secret Universe Open Access Download PDF	158
Chapter 4 Manuscript Stories Open Access Download PDF	209
Chapter 5 Materiality of Secrecy Open Access Download PDF	249
Chapter 6 Script and Scribal Politics Open Access Download PDF	300
Conclusion: A Jihad for Books Open Access Download PDF	345
Epilogue: A Case for Social Codicology Open Access Download PDF	351
Glossary Open Access Download PDF	353
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	359
Index Open Access Download PDF	374

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press
Audience: College/higher education;
Pages
- Main content: 528
Illustrations
- Other: 50 B/W illustrations
Keywords: Islamic Studies

eBook

Published: July 31, 2022
ISBN: 9781474479585